Recovery efforts continue in Mexico City after overpass collapse 

At least 20 people were killed and about 70 more injured when a metro overpass in Mexico City collapsed, sending a subway car plunging toward a busy road late Monday night, authorities said. The accident trapped cars under rubble and passengers in train cars hanging mid-air, video on social media and Mexico television showed. Dozens of rescuers have continued searching through wreckage from the collapsed, preformed concrete structure. “There are unfortunately children among the dead,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said, without specifying how many. The collapse occurred on the newest of the Mexico City subway’s lines, Line 12, the construction of which has been plagued by complaints and accusations of irregularities. The line had to be partly closed in 2013 so tracks could be repaired. The Mexico City Metro is one of the largest and busiest in the world, as at least four million people use every day, The New York Times reports.

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Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/05/04/mexico-city-collapse-india-restrictions-5-things-know-tuesday/4919248001/

Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House Republican, repudiated former President Donald J. Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, accusing him on Monday of “poisoning our democratic system.”

Ms. Cheney’s comments on Twitter escalated her feud with the former president — and, by extension, dozens of her fellow House Republicans who have repeated his baseless assertions that the election was fraudulently decided, or spread falsehoods about the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

The clash is threatening to reach a breaking point in the House, where a number of rank-and-file Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with Ms. Cheney’s determination to continue calling out Mr. Trump and members of their party. Some have begun openly predicting that the Wyoming Republican, who overwhelmingly defeated a challenge to her leadership position in February after she had sided with Democrats in voting to impeach the former president, will soon face another such challenge and lose.

Apparently undaunted by such threats, Ms. Cheney issued a scathing rebuttal on Monday to a statement put out by Mr. Trump in which he called his 2020 loss “THE BIG LIE,” the term that Democrats have used to describe the former president’s lies about a stolen election.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/us/politics/liz-cheney-trump.html

A man was shot and wounded outside the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, on Monday after emerging from his vehicle with a weapon, according to the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The CIA said the suspect did not breach the compound.

The FBI said in a statement that it was reviewing an “agent-involved shooting” that occurred at roughly 6 p.m. local time.

“An individual involved in a security incident outside Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters in McLean, VA, emerged from his vehicle with a weapon and was engaged by law enforcement officers,” the FBI’s statement said.

The suspect was transported to a hospital for medical attention, according to the FBI. It did not provide any further details about the shooting, though it said hours earlier that agents had responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle outside CIA headquarters.

A source near the scene told CBS News that he heard 13 shots fired.

A CIA spokesperson told CBS News that its compound was not breached and the only agency personnel involved were its Security Protective Officers, who were working alongside local law enforcement. The CIA referred subsequent inquiries about the incident to the FBI.

Pat Milton contributed reporting. 

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-headquarters-armed-man-shot-fbi-agent/

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is taking executive action to suspend all local COVID-19 emergency mandates immediately and is issuing an executive order to outlaw all local COVID-19 emergency mandates in the state effective July 1.

DeSantis cited the ample availability of vaccines in the Sunshine State and said supply has now eclipsed demand. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, 20.9 million doses have been distributed to the state, and 15.5 million shots have been administered in a state with a population of roughly 21.5 million people. DeSantis made the announcement as he signed a bill that bans entities, including private businesses, from requiring so-called “vaccine passports” and that amends the state’s Emergency Management Act by placing limits on local emergency powers.

“What I’m going to do is sign the bill, it’s effective July 1,” DeSantis said at the bill signing Monday in St. Petersburg. “I will also sign an executive order pursuant to that bill invalidating all remaining local emergency COVID orders effective on July 1. But then to bridge the gap between then and now, I am going to suspend, under my executive power, the local emergency orders as it relates to COVID. I think that’s the evidence-based thing to do.”

DeSantis said his administration wants people to “enjoy themselves” and “live freely in the state of Florida.”

DeSantis had already unilaterally banned even private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination to enter. The law banning vaccine passports, effective July 1, entails a $5,000 fine any time a business or school requires proof of vaccination for entry.

DeSantis, a Republican and potential 2024 presidential contender, has been among the governors quickest to drop COVID-19 safety protocols.

But other, more liberal jurisdictions are making moves towards nixing COVID-19 restrictions, too. New York City expects to return to fully capacity by July 1. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has said she thinks July 1 is a reasonable target for essentially returning to normal, if vaccinations continue to increase at the rate they have been and if cases continue to drop at the same pace.

More than 100 million Americans are now fully vaccinated, the White House announced last week.

Jack Renaud contributed reporting.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-covid-desantis-local-emergency-mandates-suspend/

COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis and a top expert warning that the coming weeks in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people will be “horrible.”

India’s official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million Tuesday, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000. Staggering as those numbers are, the true figures are believed to be far higher, the undercount an apparent reflection of the troubles in the health care system.

The country has witnessed scenes of people dying outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.

PFIZER, INDIA TALK EXPEDITED COVID-19 VACCINE APPROVAL TO COMBAT SHORTAGE

Relatives carry the body of a person who died of COVID-19 as multiple pyres of other COVID-19 victims burn at a crematorium in New Delhi, India on May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Amit Sharma, File)

Infections have surged in India since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants of the virus as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for Hindu religious festivals and political rallies before state elections.

India’s top health official, Rajesh Bhushan, refused to speculate last month as to why authorities weren’t better prepared. But the cost is clear: People are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen and hospital beds or because they couldn’t get a COVID-19 test.

India’s official average of newly confirmed cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000, and deaths per day have officially gone from over 300 to more than 3,000.

On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229 new cases in the past 24 hours and 3,449 deaths from COVID-19.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in the U.S., said he is concerned that Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in the next few days.

“I’ve been … trying to say to them, `If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next several weeks. And it may be much longer,‘” he said.

Jha said the focus needs to be on “classic” public health measures: targeted shutdowns, more testing, universal mask-wearing, and avoiding large gatherings.

“That is what’s going to break the back of this surge,” he said.

The death and infection figures are considered unreliable because testing is patchy and reporting incomplete. For example, government guidelines ask Indian states to include suspected COVID-19 cases when recording deaths from the outbreak, but many do not do so.

The U.S., with one-fourth the population of India, has recorded more than 2 1/2 times as many deaths, at around 580,000.

Municipal records for this past Sunday show 1,680 dead in the Indian capital were treated according to the procedures for handling the bodies of those infected with COVID-19. But in the same 24-hour period, only 407 deaths were added to the official toll from New Delhi.

The New Delhi High Court announced it will start punishing government officials if supplies of oxygen allocated to hospitals are not delivered. “Enough is enough,” it said.

The deaths reflect the fragility of India’s health system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has countered criticism by pointing out that the underfunding of health care has been chronic.

But this was all the more reason for authorities to use the several months when cases in India declined to shore up the system, said Dr. Vineeta Bal of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.

WHY INDIA’S CORONAVIRUS DATA IS VASTLY UNDERCOUNTED

“Only a patchwork improvement would’ve been possible,” she said. But the country “didn’t even do that.”

Now authorities are scrambling to make up for lost time. Beds are being added in hospitals, more tests are being done, oxygen is being sent from one corner of the country to another, and manufacturing of the few drugs effective against COVID-19 is being scaled up.

The challenges are steep in states where elections were held and unmasked crowds probably worsened the spread of the virus. The average number of daily infections in West Bengal state has increased by a multiple of 32 to over 17,000 since the balloting began.

“It’s a terrifying crisis,” said Dr. Punyabrata Goon, convener of the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum.

Goon added that the state also needs to hasten immunizations. But the world’s largest maker of vaccines is short of shots — the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages.

Experts are also worried the prices being charged for shots will make it harder for the poor to get vaccinated. On Monday, opposition parties urged the government to make vaccinations free to all Indians.

India is vaccinating about 2.1 million people daily, or around 0.15% of its population.

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“This is not going to end very soon,” said Dr. Ravi Gupta, a virus expert at the University of Cambridge in England. “And really … the soul of the country is at risk in a way.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/world/horrible-weeks-ahead-as-indias-virus-catastrophe-worsens

The subway system in Mexico City, the country’s sprawling capital, handles more than four million passengers a day. It is the second-largest in the Americas, after the one in New York City.

In March 2020, one person was killed and at least 41 others were injured when two subway trains collided in Mexico City. Ms. Sheinbaum said at the time that one of the trains had apparently backed into the other by accident.

After a powerful earthquake hit Mexico in September 2017, killing 94 people in Mexico City and more than 100 others elsewhere, some of the elevated infrastructure on the same subway line was damaged, El Universal newspaper reported.

Later that month, some local residents told El Universal that they feared the damaged infrastructure might collapse. The newspaper reported at the time that a column between the Olivos and Nopalera stations had suffered structural damage. It also reported that engineers were to conduct an ultrasound survey of the reinforcing steel in 300 columns along Line 12’s elevated portion.

Follow live updates on the train crash in Mexico City here.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/world/americas/mexico-city-train-derailment.html

Alan Patricof, a longtime tech investor and Democratic donor, told CNBC on Monday he is not concerned about the prospect of higher capital gains taxes for wealthy Americans.

In an interview on “Closing Bell,” the co-founder of venture capital firm Greycroft did not throw his support behind a specific rate for the capital gains tax. He also suggested the proposal recently put out by President Joe Biden will likely “be modified in some way” after negotiations in Congress, where Republicans have expressed opposition.

However, Patricof said behavior is unlikely to be swayed by a capital gains tax increase, particularly as it relates to investing in young companies. Some venture capitalists, such as Tim Draper, have contended that Biden’s proposal could negatively impact Silicon Valley.

“I believe that the amount of money that will be put into start-ups will be just as strong as it is now,”  Patricof said. “Entrepreneurs are not going to stop and say, ‘Gee whiz, the capital gains rate is going up. I better not start my company.'”

“Venture capitalists like me are not all of a sudden going to turn their money back into their funds and say, ‘Gee whiz, the rate is going up, so we can’t justify making investments anymore,” added Patricof, an early investor in Apple and AOL.

Biden’s recent proposal calls for raising the tax rate on long-term capital gains to 39.6% from 20% for Americans who have an annual income of more than $1 million. The 3.8% net investment income tax that’s already law would effectively lift the top rate to 43.4%.

Biden’s American Families Plan also calls for raising the top income tax rate to 39.6% from 37%.

Additionally, a White House fact sheet for the plan says that Biden “is also calling on Congress to close the carried interest loophole,” which benefits managers of hedge funds, venture capital funds and private equity funds.

Patricof, whose venture-capital career has stretched over 40 years, has long advocated for the elimination of the carried-interest loophole, including in a 2016 opinion article for The New York Times.

Patricof told CNBC he believes narrowing the differential in tax rates on wages and capital gains was “constructive,” without specifically saying whether he thought they should be placed at the same level.

“I think that investors in general are going to invest their money the way they have before, and I think that new companies will be started. I think that funds will be formed. Private equity will prosper,” Patricof said.

“I think you’ve seen it in the market,” he added. “I mean, the market is not collapsing because of his announced [proposed] change in rate. Everyone is expecting that the capital gains rate is going to go up. I don’t think it’s going to change behavior.”

Patricof donated thousands of dollars to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, as well as to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/tech-investor-alan-patricof-not-worried-about-capital-gains-tax-hike.html

Top allies of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Emergent BioSolutions – Biden sales pitch heads to Virginia and Louisiana Vaccine hesitancy among lawmakers slows return to normalcy on Capitol Hill GOP wrestles with role of culture wars in party’s future MORE (R-Calif.) are vowing to oust Rep. Liz CheneyElizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneyCheney at donor retreat says Trump’s actions ‘a line that cannot be crossed’: report The Memo: Trump’s critics face wrath of GOP base Allies of GOP leader vow to oust Liz Cheney MORE (R-Wyo.), one of the harshest critics of former President TrumpDonald TrumpFacebook Oversight Board to rule on Trump ban Wednesday Rubio keeping door open on White House bid Lincoln Project taunts Trump, saying he lost to ‘swamp,’ McConnell MORE in either party, from her leadership post by the end of the month.

They argue that the No. 3 Republican has repeatedly contradicted McCarthy and his team, undermining the party’s message and its efforts to take back the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

“There is no way that Liz will be conference chair by month’s end,” one key McCarthy ally told The Hill on Monday. “When there is a vote, it won’t be a long conference; it will be fast. Everyone knows the outcome.”

The developments suggest it is not just members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who are pushing to get rid of Cheney; senior lawmakers in the 154-member Republican Study Committee, the largest GOP caucus on Capitol Hill, have been openly critical of Cheney and are now trying to orchestrate her removal.

“This is a broad range of lawmakers who have had it with her,” said a second McCarthy ally. “She’s a liability, and McCarthy’s as fed up as the rest of us that she is focused on the past rather than winning back the House.”

Cheney, the GOP conference chairwoman who’s tasked with overseeing party messaging, has defended her against-the-grain approach, saying she’s simply trying to tug the party away from its veneration of a single figure and back to its pre-Trump policy ideals. Part of that responsibility, she says, is calling out Trump and his loyal foot soldiers for claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

“The 2020 presidential election was not stolen,” Cheney tweeted on Monday. “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

Cheney’s tweet was in response to a new statement from Trump, who has clung to the narrative that the election was rigged against him, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary. On Monday, he issued a one-sentence statement amplifying the false notion that his defeat was the result of rampant voter fraud.

“The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” Trump said.

Trump fired back at Cheney on Monday with a statement saying: “Heartwarming to read new polls on big-shot warmonger Liz Cheney of the great State of Wyoming. She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, won’t happen. They never liked her much, but I say she’ll never run in a Wyoming election again!”

The internal acrimony reflects the extraordinary sway that Trump holds over the party even after his election defeat. Although cloistered at his Florida resort and banned from Twitter, the former president remains enormously popular among the GOP’s conservative base, and his promise to stay active in future elections — and go after anyone deemed insufficiently loyal — has sent an explicit message to Republican leaders: Defy him at your own risk.

Against that threat, most House Republicans have rushed to Trump’s defense and downplayed his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That’s made Cheney an outlier, one whose public disgust with the former president marks a sharp contrast from the position adopted by McCarthy, the could-be Speaker who had championed Trump’s account of a stolen election and is now actively seeking his help heading into 2022.

Asked last week if Cheney remains a “good fit” to be in leadership, McCarthy abandoned his earlier support for her.

“That’s a question for the conference,” he said, referring to House Republicans.

The debate over Cheney’s future is part of a broader GOP reckoning over the direction of the party in the wake of Trump’s presidency. It’s a conversation that’s splintered traditionalist Republicans from a new brand of populists and sitting members from former colleagues, who are more free to assess Trump frankly without fear of political backlash.

“Liz is right,” former Rep. Francis RooneyLaurence (Francis) Francis RooneyRepublican rips GOP lawmakers for voting by proxy from CPAC A party of ideas, not a cult of personality Growing number of House Republicans warm to proxy voting MORE (R-Fla.) told CNN last week. “The party that I’ve been a member most of my life doesn’t exist right now amidst all this populism and nativism and opposition to traditional Republican principles that we need to get back to. And we can’t get back to them if we just continue to placate Trump.”

Cheney’s rhetorical approach is similar to that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellLincoln Project taunts Trump, saying he lost to ‘swamp,’ McConnell The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Emergent BioSolutions – Biden sales pitch heads to Virginia and Louisiana Vaccine hesitancy among lawmakers slows return to normalcy on Capitol Hill MORE (R-Ky.), who accused Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 rampage at the Capitol — though McConnell did not support Trump’s impeachment, like Cheney did — and appears eager to move the party beyond the mercurial reign of the 45th president. It’s a position that’s elicited plenty of attacks from Trump, who’s calling for McConnell’s removal as Senate GOP leader.

Yet the dynamics in the House, where more than half the GOP conference voted to overturn the presidential results, are much different than those of the Senate, where there’s been no call from Republican senators to oust McConnell. And some GOP senators have rushed to the defense of Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“Liz Cheney is a woman of strength and conscience, and she did what she thought was right, and I salute her for that,” Sen. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsThe Memo: Trump’s critics face wrath of GOP base Allies of GOP leader vow to oust Liz Cheney The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Emergent BioSolutions – Biden sales pitch heads to Virginia and Louisiana MORE (R-Maine) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

It’s unclear when another vote to remove Cheney from leadership might emerge. 

Cheney, the highest-ranking GOP woman in Congress, easily staved off an internal challenge to her leadership position in February during a marathon, four-hour meeting of Republicans in the Capitol Visitors Center, where lawmakers lined up behind closed doors to denounce her “defiance” and disloyalty.

That contest came after she’d joined just nine other GOP lawmakers in voting to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection. With McCarthy’s vocal backing, she prevailed under secret ballot by a tally of 145-61 — a landslide victory suggesting that the bulk of the conference agreed with her judgments of Trump, but were just not willing to do it publicly.

But in recent days, Cheney has only amplified the harsh critiques of the president, clashing with other GOP leaders who are eager to unite the fractured party by winning Trump’s good graces heading into the 2022 elections, when Democrats will be defending razor-thin majorities in each chamber.

Last week, during the Republicans’ annual strategy conference, held this year in Orlando, Fla., Cheney made waves by saying the GOP’s congressional leaders — not Trump — are commanding the party. She also broke with McCarthy in calling for an independent investigation into the Jan. 6 attack focused squarely on that event. Two days later, she raised more eyebrows when she fist-bumped President BidenJoe Biden1.6 million US air passengers fly in a day for first time since last March Biden administration eyeing long-term increase in food stamps: report Conspiracy against the poor MORE on the House floor as he made his way down the aisle for his first address to a joint session of Congress.

Cheney’s willingness to buck other GOP leaders has given plenty of talking points to Democrats fighting to hold the House in 2022 — and infuriated a growing number of her GOP colleagues, including many who had voted in February to keep her as the party’s conference chair but are now singing a very different tune.

Some are predicting Cheney won’t survive the month, largely because they don’t believe McCarthy will stand by and defend her as he did ahead of the first attempt to oust her. Republicans who attended both the Orlando gathering last week and a separate House GOP campaign retreat over the weekend said there was a “ton of chatter” about Cheney’s future.

“She is a big distraction,” the first McCarthy ally said. “I don’t see McCarthy saving her this time.”

Another GOP lawmaker agreed. Cheney has “made things worse and worse over the last few weeks with unforced comments and actions. McCarthy held people back from ousting her last time; I don’t think he’ll do it this time.”

A second vote to determine Cheney’s future won’t happen immediately. The House is on recess and doesn’t come back into session until May 12, but GOP lawmakers say they anticipate they will hold a closed-door, secret-ballot vote to boot Cheney from leadership once they return to Washington.

A McCarthy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

As of now, it’s unclear who would be the favorite to step into the GOP conference chair role if Cheney is voted out by her foes. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the new Republican Study Committee chairman, has been raising his profile in recent months, taking public jabs at Cheney and urging Republicans to stick with a pro-Trump agenda that he says has broad appeal to working-class Americans and will lead to election victories in 2022 and 2024.

Rep. Mike JohnsonJames (Mike) Michael JohnsonGOP frustration with Liz Cheney ‘at a boiling point’ Companies sidestep self-imposed bans on GOP donations House GOP holdouts muddle Trump vaccine message MORE (R-La.), the immediate past Study Committee chair who currently serves under Cheney as GOP conference vice chair, would be well positioned, too. However, if Banks or Johnson joined McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve ScaliseStephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseAllies of GOP leader vow to oust Liz Cheney GOP frustration with Liz Cheney ‘at a boiling point’ Pandemic casts shadow over Biden’s first address to Congress MORE (R-La.) on the team, the top three leadership jobs would be filled by white men at a time McCarthy has been emphasizing the need to recruit diverse candidates.

Other Republicans are floating Reps. Elise StefanikElise Marie StefanikKerry faces calls to step down over leaked Iran tapes  House passes bill to combat gender pay gap Business groups oppose Paycheck Fairness Act, citing concerns it could threaten bonuses and negotiating MORE (R-N.Y.) or Jackie WalorskiJacqueline (Jackie) R. WalorskiHouse panel opens probe into Tom Reed over sexual misconduct allegations Lawmakers say manufacturers are in better position to handle future pandemics Ethics watchdog: ‘Substantial’ evidence GOP lawmaker improperly spent funds, misused position to help brother MORE (R-Ind.) for the conference chair job. Both sided with Trump and voted to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.

Al Weaver contributed.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/551548-mccarthy-allies-take-aim-at-cheney

With the first line of storms, the primary threats will be strong wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph, but also heavy rainfall as well as a lot of cloud to ground lightning. There will be a lot of boundaries at play as we start the day and if they collide and interact with each other, we could see enough spin to produce a few brief tornadoes. If the storms also slow down, there will be potential for areas of localized heavy rainfall, possibly in excess of 2 inches, which may lead to flash flooding.

Source Article from https://www.waff.com/2021/05/03/first-alert-weather-day-tuesday-what-you-need-know/

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is raising the cap on refugees admitted into the country to 62,500, up from the 15,000 cap the administration said would remain in place last month. 

The move comes after the administration faced backlash from progressives who blasted the president for maintaining the the number put in place by the Trump administration.

Democratic lawmakers on the party’s left flank slammed Biden for not meeting the 62,500 cap, despite plans to raise it to 125,000 for fiscal year 2022, which were laid out in his proposal to Congress earlier this year.

Shortly after the blowback, the White House reversed course stating it would unveil a number higher than the 15,000 cap by mid-May. 

“Today, I am revising the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year. This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees,” Biden said in a statement. 

“The new admissions cap will also reinforce efforts that are already underway to expand the United States’ capacity to admit refugees, so that we can reach the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions that I intend to set for the coming fiscal year.”

The president noted that it’s unlikely that the US will hit the 62,500 cap this year, with 2,050 refugees having been admitted to the country as of March 31. 

Border Patrol agents apprehend a group of migrants near downtown El Paso, Texas following the congressional border delegation visit on March 15, 2021.
AFP via Getty Images

“The sad truth is that we will not achieve 62,500 admissions this year. We are working quickly to undo the damage of the last four years. It will take some time, but that work is already underway,” he said.  

“We have reopened the program to new refugees. And by changing the regional allocations last month, we have already increased the number of refugees ready for departure to the United States.”

Biden vowed to move forward with his goal of 125,000 next fiscal year. 

“The budget that I have submitted to Congress also reflects my commitment to the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions in the first fiscal year of my presidency. That goal will still be hard to hit. We might not make it the first year,” he said.  

“But we are going to use every tool available to help these fully-vetted refugees fleeing horrific conditions in their home countries. This will reassert American leadership and American values when it comes to refugee admissions.”

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2021/05/03/biden-raises-refugee-cap-to-62500-amid-progressive-outcry/

A tornado watch was issued for portions of North Texas, including Dallas, and Oklahoma, until 11 p.m. local time on Monday. The Weather Service cautioned that a few tornadoes were possible, as were softball-size hail and wing gusts up to 80 m.p.h. By Tuesday, the storm conditions are expected to shift east of Texas, said Ted Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

Those advisories were issued after severe weather rolled into Georgia early Monday morning. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning around 10:20 a.m. for portions of the state, including downtown Atlanta, after weather radar indicated that a tornado had developed.

Minutes after the warning was issued, the Weather Service received confirmed reports of a tornado in the area.

“Please take shelter if you are in the path of this storm,” the Weather Service said on Twitter.

In Douglasville, Ga., about 20 miles west of Atlanta, a man was pronounced dead after firefighters found him trapped inside his vehicle by power lines and a downed tree, according to Rick Martin, a spokesman for Douglas County.

There were several reports of damage in the county, including fallen trees and downed power lines. The Weather Service confirmed Monday evening that a tornado with sustained winds of up to 90 miles per hour had briefly touched down in the county, Mr. Martin said in a statement. “At least 10 homes had trees on them from the National Weather Service survey in this area,” he said.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/us/tornadoes-mississippi-atlanta.html

A suspect was shot and wounded by law enforcement just outside the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in McLean, Virginia, Monday evening, according to the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting that occurred at approximately 6 p.m. on Monday, May 3, 2021. An individual involved in a security incident outside Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters in McLean, VA, emerged from his vehicle with a weapon and was engaged by law enforcement officers,” a statement from the field office said.

“The subject was wounded and has been transported to a hospital for medical attention. The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. The review process is thorough and objective, and is conducted as expeditiously as possible under the circumstances,” the statement continued.

The suspect initially drove up to the CIA’s gates late Monday morning and made statements suggesting there was a bomb in their vehicle, according to a law enforcement official and another source familiar with the incident.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/03/politics/cia-headquarters-standoff/index.html

Students at a Virginia fifth grade classroom told President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden Monday that virtual learning gave them the chance to eat, take naps, and even fake technical glitches in order to avoid answering questions.

The school, Yorktown Elementary School, is now open four days per week, with students attending Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Students don’t come to class Wednesday so the school can be cleaned. 

One said, “if we were really tired, we could like take a little nap.” Another said, “sometimes when Ms. B was like paying attention to something else you could eat and it was fun.” Yet another student added that, “If you don’t know the question, you can just pretend like your mic doesn’t work.”

The students showed the Bidens their science projects before President Biden later asked the students how they liked learning virtually. 

“It was OK,” another said, as other students weighed in, some seeming to groan. 

“I didn’t like virtual,” one student said in response to a question from Jill Biden. “It was terrible.” 

“I liked it,” another student said. 

TOP TEACHERS UNION LOBBIED CDC ON SCHOOL REOPENINGS

“It was difficult with all the glitches, but it ended up being pretty good. I definitely prefer it this way,” said yet another.

The teacher, who goes by Ms. B lauded the benefits of in-person learning to the president and first lady. 

“Our students actually have a lot of opportunities to work hands-on with materials like this all the time. My class knows I love science so I try to incorporate as much hands-on activity as possible,” she said. 

“With York County’s return-to-school plan, our students, yes, they’re distanced, they have their masks on, they have their shields for their extra safety measures and their desks are wiped down,” Ms. B added. 

PARENTS OF VIRTUAL LEARNERS SAY THEIR KIDS HAVE WORSE MENTAL HEALTH, LESS TIME OUTSIDE, CDC SURVEY FINDS

Students, relegated in many states to virtual learning for much of the pandemic, fell behind academically in the past year. 

study last year from Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools Office of Research and Strategic Improvement suggests middle and high school students are seeing less academic success as a result of online learning. 

The percentage of students with two or more F marks, for example, increased 83% from 6% to 11% in the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year compared to the first quarter of the 2019-2020 school year. Students with disabilities and non-English speakers experienced the largest increase in F marks. 

A separate survey of parents by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, found that parents of children who learned virtually reported worse outcomes for their kids on 11 of 17 stress and well-being indicators compared to kids who went to school for in-person instruction. 

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“Findings suggest that virtual instruction might present more risks than does in-person instruction related to child and parental mental and emotional health and some health-supporting behaviors,” the CDC authors wrote. 

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has faced criticism for consulting the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers union, on its school reopening guidelines. 

Fox News’ Audrey Conklin, Caitlin McFall and Paul Best contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-classroom-visit-5th-grade-teacher-students-in-person-virtual-learning

The Covid outbreak in India is putting the rest of the world at risk and is leaving a “humanitarian catastrophe” in its wake, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health warned Monday.

“India is a big country, and if there are large outbreaks there, of course we’re going to worry about more variants, which will be bad for Indians, and … it will spread around the world,” said Dr. Ashish Jha. “So part of keeping America safe is vaccinating the whole world.”

The White House pledged to send more than $100 million worth of medical supplies to India as the country breaks global infection records on a near-daily basis. The country recorded more than 300,000 new cases for 12 straight days, but experts fear the real numbers could be much higher. Data shows that only about 2% of India’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid. 

Jha told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that because the U.S. is now at a point where it has a greater supply of vaccines than demand, that the U.S. should distribute them globally. 

“I think we should be sharing them more widely with the world, helping them get vaccinated, that’s how we’ll end the pandemic globally,” Jha said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/india-outbreak-puts-global-covid-fight-at-risk-dr-ashish-jha.html

Those who are not fully vaccinated should continue wearing face coverings outdoors when they can’t maintain distancing of at least six feet, the state says.

Face coverings are also still required in all indoor settings except people’s homes, as well as on public transit, regardless of vaccination status.

“After reviewing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s masking recommendations, and with science and data as our guide, we are moving to align California’s guidance with these common sense updates,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

In addition to the updated outdoor guidance, California will now allow fully vaccinated people to visit with other fully vaccinated people in indoor or outdoor settings without wearing masks or maintaining distancing.

They can also visit indoors or outside, without wearing face coverings or maintaining distancing, with unvaccinated people from a single household at low risk for severe COVID-19.

County health departments can still impose more stringent rules than the state’s, although most Bay Area counties told The Chronicle they would align with the new guidelines. San Francisco did so shortly after the state announcement.

Aidin Vaziri is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

Source Article from https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/It-s-official-Face-masks-are-no-longer-16148719.php

President Biden reversed himself on Monday and said he would allow as many as 62,500 refugees to enter the United States in the next six months, eliminating the sharp limits that former President Donald J. Trump had imposed on those seeking refuge from war, violence or natural disasters.

“This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees,” Mr. Biden said in a statement issued by the White House.

The action came about two weeks after Mr. Biden said he would leave Mr. Trump’s limit of 15,000 refugees in place. That announcement drew widespread condemnation from Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill and from refugee advocates who accused the president of reneging on a campaign promise to welcome those in need.

White House officials had insisted that Mr. Biden’s intentions in mid-April were misunderstood. But his decision to increase the refugee limit to 62,500 indicates that he felt pressure to act.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/us/politics/biden-refugee-numbers.html

Real estate investors may soon pay more taxes on high-dollar transactions.

President Joe Biden is asking for higher taxes on real estate transactions with gains of more than $500,000. The tax plan aims to help cover the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which pumps money into child care, paid family leave and education programs.  

However, financial experts say the tax hike may also put a strain on smaller investors.

The strategy on the chopping block — so-called like-kind or 1031 exchanges — allows investors to defer paying taxes on real estate by rolling profits into their next property. 

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“You don’t have to take a haircut for Uncle Sam’s share every time you move from one investment to another,” said Michael Repak, vice president and senior estate planner at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. 

Currently, investors can use 1031 exchanges to buy and sell tax-deferred real estate throughout life. If the investor holds the property until death, they can pass it on to heirs tax-free.  

“This has been a great way for real estate investors to make money,” said Matt Berquist, a Jacksonville, Florida-based certified financial planner and managing director at Intrepid Capital Management.

The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that 1031 exchanges may save investors $41.4 billion in taxes from 2020 to 2024. 

Slashing tax breaks

Biden aims to reel in 1031 exchanges on transactions with profits exceeding $500,000.  

The effects may be far-reaching, financial experts say, especially with the call for an increase in capital gains taxes.

About 12% of real estate sales were part of a 1031 exchange from 2016 to 2019, according to a 2020 survey from the National Association of Realtors. 

Those investors may not be the real estate tycoons many expect.

Small businesses 

Although Biden’s plan targets the wealthy, the proposal may also hit smaller investors.

The Realtors survey showed 84% of 1031 exchanges were by smaller investors — those in sole proprietorships (47%) or S corporations (37%).

“There will be some unintended consequences if it all goes through,” Berquist said.

Small businesses looking to exchange property may face some tough decisions. 

For example, let’s say a dental practice owns a $1.2 million building it had originally purchased for $500,000. Under current law, the owners can exchange the property for a “like-kind” office building and defer taxes by adding the $700,000 profit into a new building they’ve bought. 

The new law would charge capital gains taxes on the company’s profit above the $500,000 exemption.

Repak said the new rule could make it difficult for those looking to exchange for a lower-maintenance property as they move into retirement.

The proposed changes may also trickle down to small businesses renting property. 

Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed by the Realtors expect rent increases if 1031 exchange repeals occur.     

Repak said landlords may try to recoup losses or extra taxes by charging more rent.    

“Renters are probably the easiest to try and push that onto,” he said.  

Start planning

While details are still murky, Repak said some investors are starting to prepare for changes. He said it’s prudent to begin talking with your estate planning attorney and accountant.

Those impacted shouldn’t make an impulsive decision, however.  

“There are all kinds of things on the docket that could change for folks,” Berquist said. “People need to be ready and open to making changes as necessary.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/how-bidens-real-estate-tax-plan-may-hit-smaller-property-investors.html